the term "animal nurse"
- page 8

didn't do a lot of this to death over in a thread about 'Pet Nurses' , where it was pointed out that in some places (e.g. the UK ) Veterinary Nurses are called exactly that, and have professional registration etc etc ...

Jun 22, '11

Wow a seven year old thread has been brought back to life. I'd like to say that things have changed dramatically in the veterinary profession but alas it has not. The only thing that has changed for me is that I have been a CVT for 20 years instead of 13. The hours are still long and the pay is low. Most days the work is still very rewarding and quite fun. I feel that I make a difference in human and animal lives. Sure the burn out, compassion fatigue, and hard to get along with clients are still there but it's that way everywhere.

I have seen some very positive improvements from the public. Credentailed technicians are receiving more recognition. Clients have been noticing that the practice that I work for hires Certified Veterinary Technicians (CVT) Our credentials are hanging in the waiting room right next to the DVM's/VMD's. I had two clients in the last month ask if a CVT was doing the anesthesia on their pet. States are starting to clarify duties between credentialed and non credentialed staff members. Some states are starting to fine practices for allowing staff to practice outside their scope. This part is still public complaint driven sadly.

The downside is that the wages and benefits are still bad for everyone in vet med. A new gradute vet is lucky to make $50,000 the first year out of school. S/He comes out of school with $100,000+ in college debt. Many credentialed techs are in debt because they choose to go to a private program like bel-rea instead of a state community college. With the economy, wages are not going to change soon. We are fueled by descretionary income. Right now there isn't much of that around. Unlike human medicine, veterinary medicine is not subsidized by the government or insurance premiums.

I did not get into this profession for the money. Right now I am making a living and having a good time doing so. I really don'y like the "nurse" terminology for this profession. The "nurse" term has been brought up many times over the years. I am for national standards for the profession but that's a long ways off. So right now I just happy being what I am a Certified Veterinary Technician.

Fuzzy

Jun 22, '11

Yep, when I took my black lab puppy to the vet recently, they said "the nurse will be right into see her." I thought hm, really? There's another nurse here? Her shirt even had "nurse" embroidered into it. If she hadn't been so darn sweet to my little pup, I think I'd have been more bothered.

Jun 22, '11

Many Banfields call their "technicians" "pet nurses". Sadly most of their "pet nurses" do not have the training that credentialed technicians have. In fact, most have barely graduated high school. However the tide is turning. Banfield is now looking and hiring actual Veterinary technicians who are credentialed in their state. I think that they are having to rethink their position because of the changing practice acts in many states. They are having a difficult finding people to work for them because of their past reputation.

As a pet owner you have the right to ask about the credentials of anyone working on your pet. Owners really need to ask who's running the anesthesia and montoring the patient. Many owners think that the vet does this. The vet cannot monitor the patient and do surgery at the same time very effectively or safely. Believe me I ask the same whenever I go to the human doctor or to the hospital.

I correct clients all the time that call me a nurse. My name badge states that I am a Certified Veterinary Technician.. I do not want to be mistaken for a nurse as I';m not a nurse although I do perform many nursing skills.

As I stated when I replied to this thread in 2007, Veterinary Technology is a young field. It is growing and changing. I'll bet that many people on this forum do not realize that there are vet tech specialities in several fields.

If only they knew what the selection process was for RN. Wait they dont cause you can go to Weatern Career College and get into Vet Tech in 5 minutes. We are described as rejects that go into nursing school, I wish they would try their hand at our world. No one cares what Vet Techs call themselves seriously nobody cares. Then all of a sudden a few unhappy people want to pick a fight. Do they know what it takes to get into the RN program...no because they are Vet Techs and didnt go to our school. So how on earth can they talk about something they havent even tried. Ok so you wanna be called the dog nurse, or hamster nurse, or bunny nurse, go for it. Nobody cares what you call yourselves, but do not talk about a proffesion that puts the lives of humans above the lives of animals. This may sound messed up but if I had a choice to save either a horse or some random stranger, I would pick the HUMAN. In fact just to prove my resolve I would shoot the horse so that you VET TECH can have a job thanks to me.

BTW the reason you can work on animals is because the law doesnt give a crap about animals, the law cares more about HUMAN care rather than animal care any day. You want some animal or work, fine bring your dog my way and ill oblige your request using my gun. It was all nice and dandy until the **** hit the fan, the insults were not needed. Once again I choose the life of a HUMAN over an animal any day.

If only they knew what the selection process was for RN. Wait they dont cause you can go to Weatern Career College and get into Vet Tech in 5 minutes.

Once again I choose the life of a HUMAN over an animal any day.

Wow. I was a vet tech before I went to nursing school and my associates degree was almost exactly the same as ADN. The admission process was actually more involved than the nursing program and in fact the RVT program was more academically challenging than any of my nursing programs have been. If it weren't for the money difference I would have never left that profession. Ok so you value human life over animals well news flash, not everyone feels that way.

Jun 23, '11

"Wait they dont cause you can go to Weatern Career College and get into Vet Tech in 5 minutes. "

ah actually no you can't if it's actually an accredited Vet Tech program. They are just as competative as RN and LPN programs and the (accredited ) VT school I went to actually had a waiting list unlike the RN school I am going to (thank goodness) which made it even harder to get into. There would be about 150 students trying to get into 10-20 of the 30 slots that were left over after students were taken from last years waiting list. Just like when applying to RN school you have to have basically all of your first year of gen eds done (including microbiology, bio 1 and 1, chemistry 1 and 2, etc) and basically a gpa of over 3.6 to get in. The world would be so much less cluttered with noise if people would just stop poppin off at the mouth about stuff they HAVE NO REAL CLUE ABOUT but always seem to think they know everything

Jun 23, '11

"the law cares more about HUMAN care"
Really?....I mean REALLY??? do you watch the news? nobody actually cares about anybody, only their own selfish needs and you can see it everyday everywhere you look ALL OVER THE WORLD. people don't care about animals and they sure as heck don't care about other people otherwise no one would be homeless, children wouldn't be starving and peace would reign...that'd be the day.

Jun 23, '11

OK, I just read what was posted under the link, haha. Yeah, don't be too offended because I would be willing to bet money that that person isn't even an actual "vet tech", just another assistant trained on the job and led to believe they are the same. One of the main reasons I left the furry patients I love to become an RN. I loved my patients and would do anything for them but sometimes I would be amazed at some Vet Techs that would get angry if a client wouldn't take the clothes off of their kids back or food out of their mouths to fund a pets care. I love my animals but my family comes first. And the whole taking your anger out on this obviously ignorant person by verbally shooting every animal in sight is really unnecessary.

Jun 24, '11

The correct term for a female dog is *****, so why did the mods feel the need to correct my post?

"Wait they dont cause you can go to Weatern Career College and get into Vet Tech in 5 minutes. "

ah actually no you can't if it's actually an accredited Vet Tech program. They are just as competative as RN and LPN programs and the (accredited ) VT school I went to actually had a waiting list unlike the RN school I am going to (thank goodness) which made it even harder to get into. There would be about 150 students trying to get into 10-20 of the 30 slots that were left over after students were taken from last years waiting list. Just like when applying to RN school you have to have basically all of your first year of gen eds done (including microbiology, bio 1 and 1, chemistry 1 and 2, etc) and basically a gpa of over 3.6 to get in. The world would be so much less cluttered with noise if people would just stop poppin off at the mouth about stuff they HAVE NO REAL CLUE ABOUT but always seem to think they know everything

Western Career College changed their name to Carrington College California, same everything but different logos. There are 34 maximum students in the program per admission cycle, most people on the wait list is 3. Two groups start a year one in August and one in March, first come first serve. Your gen eds are very basic, and no pre-reqs needed to get into the program not even zoology or basic biology. In fact you can start from zero post high school education, gpa doesnt matter. The program will give you all the gen eds, and you walk right into the program on day. Brand spanking new out of high school, sure come one down we can make you a Vet Tech in 23 months. Yes they are accredited by the AVMA, and those that finish the program have to pass state boards, and you get an associates degree.

I actually went to the school that I mentioned and talked to an admissions councilor to get information on how the show works. So now I do have a real clue about what I am talking about because I got hard data from the person responsible for admission and my info is 3 days old. Not Data from a few years, weeks or months ago.

Lets talk about ADN where I come from

1. 1500 people apply to my community college. 75 make it in.

2. Anatomy, Physiology, Microbiology (all with wet labs) must be completed before eligible for application.

3. English 1, Nutrition, Math College Algebra, Public Speaking must be completed before eligible application.

4. T.E.A.S test must be completed and passed with minimum 72% before eligible application.

5. All classes on a point scale which means the higher you score on the above items, the higher your score will be so you can beat out the other people trying to get in.

6. No Wait List, only top 75 people make it in every semester, so if you didn't make it in this time you have to do it again next time and beat out another group of people that are all science majors.

SO NO NOT LIKE GETTING INTO RN SCHOOL AT ALL. Our program is so impacted that the nursing admin had to think of ways to weed out people so that they only take the top rank. You can't be some random newbie with no post high school background and walk right in to take a spot.

If you know of anyone that wants to be a vet tech please go ahead and get with Carrington College California.

"the law cares more about HUMAN care"
Really?....I mean REALLY??? do you watch the news? nobody actually cares about anybody, only their own selfish needs and you can see it everyday everywhere you look ALL OVER THE WORLD. people don't care about animals and they sure as heck don't care about other people otherwise no one would be homeless, children wouldn't be starving and peace would reign...that'd be the day.

There are far more laws made to protect humans than there are to protect animals. Yes I watch the news people die because people everywhere will act like people everywhere else. Therefore we pass legislation to make sure those who commit 1st degree murder go to jail. January 5, 2004 USDA to kill 450 calves in mad cow scare http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...w-calves_x.htm . Baby cows being killed because they were born with an infectious disease, they even killed one baby cow because they couldn't tell if it was born from an infected mother. Perfectly legal, thank you USDA for trying your best at protecting the public from the disease. Do we kill 450 babies that were born with HIV/AIDS from infected mothers because they may pass it on to others in the population. The answer is no because that's murder and very illegal. We passed laws so people can't kill human babies because they have a disease. By babies I mean fully out of the womb, most likely being breast fed by mom so they put on weight.

OK, I just read what was posted under the link, haha. Yeah, don't be too offended because I would be willing to bet money that that person isn't even an actual "vet tech", just another assistant trained on the job and led to believe they are the same. One of the main reasons I left the furry patients I love to become an RN. I loved my patients and would do anything for them but sometimes I would be amazed at some Vet Techs that would get angry if a client wouldn't take the clothes off of their kids back or food out of their mouths to fund a pets care. I love my animals but my family comes first. And the whole taking your anger out on this obviously ignorant person by verbally shooting every animal in sight is really unnecessary.

I knew getting into Vet Tech at the college I mentioned was easy because on of my friends did it and they are not the sharpest knife in the drawer. As for shooting every animal in sight, I mentioned one horse and one dog. Total of two animals, nothing else afterwards.